Monday, September 30, 2013

Friday, September 27, 2013

Part of the original tile floor in the priory at Much Wenlock, built in the 1100s.

Columns at the ruins of the Cluniac Priory at Much Wenlock

Late afternoon at Rievaulx Abbey

Just behind Richmond Castle

York City Wall

Yorkshire Dales

You didn't seriously think you'd get out of here without at least one photo of sheep, did you?? And I thought I'd give you a closeup of that drystone wall so can see how the stone are laid. Can you imagine how long it would take to put one of these up at the perimeter of your yard? In Yorkshire, they're everywhere!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

I've always been partial to October, but I may have to reconsider September for favorite month status. October has bright blue skies and gorgeous maples and oaks, but September is more reliable when it comes to pleasant evenings and of course, garden harvest. I used to be able to count on the second weekend in October having perfect weather for celebrating an early Thanksgiving, which we did for many years before our kids grew up and moved away. The past few years, however, the second weekend in October has been cold and wet, less than cheering.

September has been lovely!

Tomato Chips

(from the dehydrator)

So before we move into October, I thought I'd post some of my last-part-of-September photos, most of which I took yesterday.

Milkweed

Tomatoes and Oregano

Before the Dehydrator

SandStonehenge

I think these hunks of sandstone were placed here by the grandsons.

They look like tombstones, don't they. I kinda like them.

Asters, Rudbeckia, and Salvia

They won't be around much longer. I love the huge burst of color, that last-minute treat before we get a killing frost.And then, you-know-what is on its way.The big W.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Last week, Diane from Lavender Dreams wrote a post about a few of the beautiful dolls she owns. When I went upstairs and saw the light shining through the blinds onto my Zaph doll, I decided to take a few pictures and share them with you.

This doll, whose name I don't know and whose original clothes I can't find, was purchased about 24 years ago at a little doll shop in Stillwater, MN. Her body is stuffed with wool, and the first thing you notice about her when you hold her, is that her body feels surprisingly lifelike (well, not including the head, arms, and legs.)

Some of the nice things about her are that she doesn't wet or cry real tears. (Remember when dolls were bought because they did those things?? )

False Teethwell bleached

One of the first unhappy incidents with this doll occurred when our [then] 3 year old broke out her front teeth. It wasn't anything malicious, it's just that they were there and he could. So what you see in the photo above are her 'false teeth,' which I made out of an old Clorox bottle and glued in place. My dentist couldn't have done better. lol

And by the way, there's something about this doll's eyes that seem to
follow you around the room. I think that's why our daughter is so
creeped out by her and won't have her in the room when she's here to
visit. I think that's pretty funny.

Oddly enough, I've never named this doll. So if you have any good ideas, I'd like to hear them. Any name pop into your head?

Monday, September 23, 2013

See those bananas? For my banana nut bread recipe, I wouldn't use them any greener than those. In fact, I will use them when they are nearly solid black, as long as they're not rotten, squishy black, just a firm black. There is a difference. Good, ripe bananas are essential to getting the desired very-banana flavor in your banana nut bread.

From my vintage Betty Crocker cookbook!

I'm surprised these two pages aren't stuck together. That does tend to be a problem for me.

P.S. I used chopped walnuts. This was delicious! And because I had so many ripe bananas, I had to make three large loaves!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

"We live in a day with such a horrendously inflated view of human
potential and such a miserably tiny view of God's holiness that we can
scarcely understand what the real problem of guilt is. The real problem
is not, "How can God be loving and yet condemn people with such little
sins?" The real problem is, "How can God be righteous if he acquits such
miserable sinners as we?" There can be no lasting remedy for guilt
which does not deal with God's righteous indignation against sin.
That's why there had to be a sacrifice. And not just any sacrifice, but
the sacrifice of the Son of God! No one else, and no other act, could
repair the defamation done to the glory of God by our sins. But when
Jesus died for the glory of the Father, satisfaction was made. The glory
was restored. Righteousness was demonstrated. Henceforth it is clear
that when God, by grace, freely justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5),
he is not indifferent to the demands of justice. It is all based on the
grand transaction between the Father and the Son on the morning of Good
Friday at Calvary.

No other gospel can take away our guilt because no
other gospel corresponds to the cosmic proportions of our sin in
relation to God." - from DesiringGod.org - John Piper. Read More... HERE.

There are two kinds of people:

Those who are guilty and those whose guilt has been removed.

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that THE WORLD MIGHT BE SAVED THROUGH HIM. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." - John 3:17-19

See? God did not send His Son into the world to make us feel guilty! God sent Jesus to rescue us, FREE us from our sin and guilt.

"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into
the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the
forgiveness of sins." Col. 1:13-14

"As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." Psalm 103:12

***

What is the effective cure for guilt?

Christ alone. Trusting in Him is the only way to peace with God and freedom from guilt.

Friday, September 20, 2013

And if they'd thought of a fourth type of fence, they probably would have used that too!

The Yellow Line

You can ignore the red and blue lines. The post today contains photos taken along the yellow line portion of the trip from Leyburn to Embsay along the B6160. I thought this was an interesting little piece of pastureland in the Yorkshire Dales, south of Kettlewell.

Grassington (see map above)

If you ever have the opportunity to get to Yorkshire, it's definitely worth renting a car and traveling down the B6160 from Leyburn to Skipton (just south of Embsay). It's definitely a road less traveled and it did make all the difference!

***

'French Lilac & Lavender'
I know what affection the English have for the French.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

So rather than going to the work to manually chop my Carmen peppers from my garden, I decided to use my new KitchenAid food processor. Great idea. It would have been an even greater idea if I had read the instruction manual. I did not. I have an aversion to that sort of thing because a)usually I can figure it out myself and b)often the instructions are written by someone whose first language is not English, or someone who is not a good tech writer.

So I winged it.

I ended up with Carmen puree.

Which I put into the dehydrator on screens.

But I do like how all the pepper dust looks in this pretty little vintage canning jar.

Then there were the apples.

McIntosh, from the sturdy little tree in our yard...

In the Dehydrator

Using my trusty 'Back to Basics Apple Peeler' (and corer and slicer - yes, you need one!), the job went fast. The tasty apple slices are dry and yummy! AND, I also dry the peel to use in my Frosted Apple Spice soap. (See below.)

Lavender, for my handmade, vegan soaps

Yes, after their turn in the dehydrator

Hot little Cayenne PeppersNo, not for my soapsalthough I bet I'd get some interesting feedback!

The cayenne I do not put in the dehydrator. Instead, I pull up the entire plant, tie a string around the bottom above the roots, and hang it upside down in the corner of the kitchen. As fall gets drier, the cayenne totally dry out and when done, they look like this: (below)

Oh. I forgot to mention the rosemary. That gets a turn in the dehydrator too.

This year I'm going to pull up my oregano plant and hang it up to dry (in the kitchen, next to the cayenne). I saw Lydia (from Lydia's Italy) with a bunch of dried oregano which she wrapped in paper and then slightly rolled the paper between her hands and shook out the amount of oregano needed for the recipe. She likes to use dried, rather than fresh, oregano. So I'll try that too. We'll see what happens!

Ever notice how she makes everything she does look so fun and interesting??!!

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